Heinz Rökker (20 October 1920 – 2 August 2018) was a German night fighter pilot in the Luftwaffe during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. The Knight's Cross (), and its variants were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. He claimed 64 enemy aircraft (63 at night) shot down, and all were British bombers. Rökker was the eighth-most-successful night fighter pilot in the history of aerial warfare. He died in August 2018 at the age of 97.Heinz Rökker death notice
Early life
Rökker was born on 20 October 1920 in Oldenburg, in the Free State of Oldenburg of the Weimar Germany. At the age of 19 he passed his Kriegsabitur (war time diploma, a school leaving certificate under accelerated conditions) at the Hindenburg School on Oldenburg and applied to join the Luftwaffe. Rökker was accepted as an officer candidate and entered the Luftwaffe on 1 October 1939, 19 days before his 19th birthday and one month after the German invasion of Poland and the start of World War II in Europe. He was assigned to 4. Staffel of the 22 Flieger-Ausbild Regiment (4th Squadron of the 22nd Pilot Training Regiment) at Güstrow. Rökker then moved to the Fliegerhorstkompanie Wenzendorf (Airfield Company Wenzendorf) on 13 November 1939.
On 14 January 1940 Rökker was transferred to the Luft-Nachschub-Kompanie 5 (5th Aerial Replacement Company) stationed in Gütersloh. From 4 July 1940, he was stationed at Berlin-Gatow with the Schülerkompanie Flugzeugführer-schule (School Company at Advanced Flying School). Rökker was promoted to Gefreiter on 1 October 1940. He then completed advanced training at a flying school near Magdeburg from 20 March—15 August 1941. Rökker attended Blindflugschule 5 in Belgrade, occupied Yugoslavia, from 15 September before completing his training at Nachtjagdschule 1, near Munich on 1 November 1941. During his advanced training, on 1 May and 1 August respectively, he was promoted to the rank of Fähnrich and Oberfähnrich.
World War II
Following the 1939 aerial Battle of the Heligoland Bight, bombing missions by the Royal Air Force (RAF) shifted to the cover of darkness, initiating the Defence of the Reich campaign. By mid-1940, Generalmajor (Brigadier General) Josef Kammhuber had established a night air defense system dubbed the Kammhuber Line. It consisted of a series of control sectors equipped with radars and searchlights and an associated night fighter. Each sector, named a Himmelbett (canopy bed), would direct the night fighter into visual range with target bombers. In 1941, the Luftwaffe started equipping night fighters with airborne radar such as the Lichtenstein radar. This airborne radar did not come into general use until early 1942.
Mediterranean and Egypt Rökker was then posted to 1. Staffel (1st squadron) of Nachtjagdgeschwader 2 (NJG 2—Night Fighter Wing 2) operating in the Mediterranean theatre on 6 May 1942. He remained with this wing until war's end.For an explanation of the meaning of Luftwaffe unit designation see Organization of the Luftwaffe during World War II. Carlos Nugent was also posted to 1./NJG 2 in May 1942 and became Rökker's Bordfunker (wireless/radar operator). The unit was located to Catania in Sicily, Italy. From there, it transported to North Africa by ship and was based in Libya. After flying 25 missions Rökker was awarded the Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe in Bronze () on 17 June 1942.
On 31 May 1942 Rökker's Junkers Ju 88 was damaged by anti-aircraft artillery from Allied shipping and he crash landed at Kastelli, on Crete. 20 days later, Rökker shot down a RAF Bristol Beaufort by day on 20 June 1942, near Crete. The time was recorded as 17:20 local time. His aircraft received several hits from return fire during the action, but he landed safely. Rökker's victim was Beaufort DD959, No. 217 Squadron RAF piloted by Flying Officer Frank J. R. Minster and crewed by Sergeant W. A. R. King, J Moschonas and J.A. Bowyer. All of these men were posted missing in action and were never found. Rökker began night intruder missions in June and over British lines in Africa. Over Mersa Matruh, Egypt, on the night of the 25/26 June 1942 he engaged a Vickers Wellington southwest of the city and shot it down at 22:45. He attacked and claimed another at 00:09.
On the night of the 28/29 June at 23:58 he encountered another Wellington which he claimed for fourth victory. The machine was R1029, of No. 108 Squadron RAF, which he damaged severely and which was destroyed in a crash-landing. Rökker's Ju 88C was severely damaged and he was also forced to crash-land. Squadron leader D. H. Jacklin, DFC and his crew, survived. Rökker was awarded the Iron Cross second class () and Wound Badge after the battle on 3 and 14 July 1942 respectively.
On 28 July, Rökker achieved his last victory in Africa. East of Tobruk at 23:10 he shot down another Wellington for his fifth victory. The aircraft was Wellington HX364, from No. 70 Squadron RAF. Pilot Sergeant H. Osborne and his crew survived ditching in the sea, were rescued by an Italian ship the Lino Bixo and taken prisoner. However, gunners K. Hatch, E. A. Jones, K. S. McDonald subsequently drowned when the vessel was sunk by a Royal Navy submarine off Greece on 17 August 1942.
Although 1./NJG 2 was briefly relocated to Belgium on 4 August 1942, reaching northern Europe on 5 August, the Staffel was relocated back to the Mediterranean theatre based in Sicily on 9 February 1943. During his time in Belgium Rökker was responsible for the air defence of Belgium and northern France. On 14 August 1942 he was awarded the Iron Cross first class () for 50 missions and five victories but he achieved no further success in that region. In that period Rökker had been appointed Staffelkapitan (squadron leader), on 15 December 1942.
In April 1943, Rökker achieved his last victory over the southern fronts when he shot down a Wellington at 01:15 on 19 April 1943 over Marettimo, Aegadian Islands, west of Sicily. The machine was certainly HX487, of No. 221 Squadron RAF based at RAF Luqa on Malta. Squadron leader Michael Foulis, DFC and Bar was lost with nine other men. It was possibly on a transfer that day, explaining why so many men were aboard. Of the nine men reported killed, four had previously flown with Foulis on torpedo operations.
Defence of the Reich In July 1943, 1./NJG 2 were back in Europe to undertake Defence of the Reich duties. On 2 July he flew his last operation in the south and NJG 2 relocated back northwest Europe. Rökker claimed his next victories on 24 August 1943 southwest of Berlin at 00:35 and 00:50, a Lancaster and Halifax, for his seventh and eighth. On 1 December 1943 Rökker was promoted to Oberleutnant. The following month he was awarded the Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe in Gold () for 100 night fighter operations. In February 1944 Rökker claimed two successes over Berlin as Bomber Command began a five-month campaign against the German capital. On the 24 February 1944 Rökker recorded a Short Stirling at 22:43 south of Heilbronn. The following night he claimed a Lancaster at 21:43, west of Hagenau.
Rökker claimed three victories on the night of 15/16 March 1944. At 22:26, west of Stuttgart, Rökker and his radar operator detected a Lancaster with the FuG 350 Naxos radar detector system, which picked up the emissions of HS2 radar installed in RAF bombers. Using the front, rather than Schräge Musik armament, he shot down three bombers. One was flown by Squadron leader R. Blackwell-Smith from No. 9 Squadron RAF. Rökker decided to repeat an attack with the frontal guns. The Ju 88 was spotted and Blackwell-Smith dived and carried out the corkscrew, a standard British bomber evasion tactic. In the turning fight that began, Rökker was assisted by his radar operator who opened fire with the hand-held defensive guns. Rear turret gunner Australian Flight Sergeant Eric Birrell did not fire, either because he was killed in action or the hydraulics had been damaged and the turret would not operate. Upper turret gunner Sergeant Brian Glover returned fire but missed. Radio operator Ronald West was killed and Flying Officer Herbert Sheasby, navigator Pilot Officer Douglas Eley, the Canadian bomb-aimer, did not survive their parachute jumps. The successes were recorded southwest of Strasbourg at 22:26, west of Hagenau at 22:35, and west of Stuttgart at 22:55.
On 22/23 March and 24/25 March 1944, he claimed three shot down on each night. On the first night of these operations he shot down the Handley Page Halifax flown by Richard Atkins from No. 578 Squadron RAF over Steinringsberg near Herborn at 22:35. Atkins was the only pilot of the squadron to reach the last mission of his tour. This night he was joined by Group captain Nigel Marwood-Elton DFC. Another member of the crew was Flight sergeant, Eric Sanderson the tail gunner. Sanderson saw Rökker's Ju 88 "slide" underneath his turret and he called to the pilot to take evasive action. At one point he told the pilot to bank the bomber so the upper-mid gunner could fire down at the Ju 88 but Sanderson reported the Ju 88 remained below and behind them before firing and hitting the bomb bay and fuel tanks in the wings. All eight men parachuted clear and survived the encounter. In his combat report, Rökker mentioned Atkins by name (presumably having learned it from intelligence reports).
On the latter night, he shot down the Lancaster II "D-King" flown by Flight Sergeant Jim Newman at 23:20 between Leipzig and Berlin. One of the crew, Nicholas Alkemade survived a free fall of 18,000 feet (5,490m) without a parachute. Engineer Edgar Warren, bomb-aimer Charles Hilder, and mid-upper gunner John McDonough were burned to death in the aircraft. The three bombers reported destroyed on 22/23 March were recorded south of Aurich at 21:30, and in the vicinity of Koblenz at 22:27 and 22:35. The other two on 24/25 March claims were reported over Bernburg at 23:20 and east of Kassel at 23:48 for his 20th victory. Over the course of April and May 1944, Rökker achieved another seven victories over western Germany, eastern Belgium and Netherlands including three on the 12 May recorded between 00:23 and 00:49 over Brussels and Zeebrugge. The last appears to have been uncredited.
In June, Rökker's unit was heavily engaged over the Western Front. On 6 June 1944, the Western Allies initiated Operation Overlord which began the Battle of Normandy. On the first day of the landing, the British Army attempted to capture Caen. The Battle of Caen lasted for two months and NJG 2 flew night fighter operations against Bomber Command intrusions. On the night of 6/7 June, Rökker claimed five RAF bombers. The first was claimed southwest of Caen at 02:42. The next four were claimed at 02:48, 02:51, 03:01 and 03:08. The final two were claimed to the west of the city and all were Lancasters. The mission inflated Rökker's claims to 32. No. 5 Group RAF lost six Lancasters in the Caen area this night—10 Lancasters and one Halifax were lost and 13 were claimed by German night fighter pilots. Rökker is the only pilot known to have claimed in the vicinity. On 13 June 1944 Rökker was awarded the German Cross in Gold. South of Dieppe another Lancaster was claimed at 00:16 on 25 June and two more fell on 26 July at 03:21 and 04:38, northwest Châteaudun. Rökker was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross () for 35 (or 36) night victories on 27 July 1944. In the early hours of the 29 July he intercepted two Lancaster bombers over Orléans and near Chaumont, and claimed them destroyed at 00:14 and 01:17. One of these bombers belonged to No. 514 Squadron RAF. It was flown by Flight Lieutenant Robert Jones; only Sergeants Tom Harvell (engineer) and George Robinson (navigator) survived. Harvell evaded capture but Robinson became a prisoner of war.